Advertisement

Updated July 5th, 2020 at 14:09 IST

Third time lucky for Mumbai resident as she returns home from South Africa after two failed attempt

It was third time lucky for Mumbai resident Lopa Mudra as she was among 247 stranded Indian nationals who returned home from South Africa on Saturday on one of the two repatriation flights this weekend.

| Image:self
Advertisement

It was third time lucky for Mumbai resident Lopa Mudra as she was among 247 stranded Indian nationals who returned home from South Africa on Saturday on one of the two repatriation flights this weekend.

The third flight organised by the Indian High Commission here since last month as part of the Vande Bharat mission left from here on Saturday morning with 247 passengers.

Another 203 passengers will leave for home on the second flight on Sunday.

Mudra was in South Africa on an international work project with several colleagues. Her colleagues left on earlier flights before the lockdown in South Africa, but her separate flight got cancelled.

The lockdown began in South Africa on March 26.

Mudra could not board her second flight as part of the Vande Bharat mission because she was taken ill.

Mudra, who is a diabetic, had to pay the high ticket price for the third time and there were no refunds on the earlier flights.

She also lost out on an expensive hotel in Mumbai which she had booked twice for her mandatory quarantine period on arrival.

Consul General Anju Ranjan told PTI that most of the passengers will transfer to another flight in Mumbai which will continue to Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore to repatriate many of the south Indian citizens who have been stranded in South Africa for more than three months due to the Covid-19 lockdown.

On Sunday, a chartered flight organised by the South Africa Telugu Community (SATC), a humanitarian organisation of expatriates working here, is expected to take just over 200 passengers back to Delhi.

“We organised this flight with the support of the High Commission because our philosophy is to assist all our Indian brothers and sisters at all times,” said SATC Chairman Vikram Kumar Petluru.

“There have been a number of flights to south India, on which many of our friends and members managed to return home, so we decided to help those from north India with his flight,” Petluru added.

The passengers on both flights had to be cleared first by the Indian High Commission.

“Because bookings for the flight only opened on Monday, some people who wanted to go back could not meet the requirements in time,” said Ashish Sharma of Satguru Travels, which has been coordinating all the flights, including the three earlier flights.

Sharma said the incoming Vande Bharat flight also brought back two South Africans, five Zimbabweans, and a passenger each from Botswana and Swaziland, all countries neighbouring South Africa. PTI FH NSA NSA

Advertisement

Published July 5th, 2020 at 14:09 IST

Your Voice. Now Direct.

Send us your views, we’ll publish them. This section is moderated.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Whatsapp logo